In diet, as in life, we often look for shortcuts. One of such ways, we can safely say that the most popular, is the use of juice detox - vegetable, fruit or vegetable and fruit. But is introducing it a good option? What are the potential advantages and disadvantages? Is this a safe choice? You will learn this from the article!

What is a juice detox?

Juice detox is a type of short-term dietary intervention that involves consuming only fruit or vegetable juices. Unfortunately, most of these types of nutrition models are proprietary schemes that do not have a clear definition and a single protocol, and it is in vain to look for information about them in scientific sources. For this reason, we do not know how long such a detox should last, what it should look like and what it actually "detoxifies"...

What are juice detoxes used for?

While everyone may have their own motivation for undertaking this intervention, generally juice detoxes are promoted as beneficial for:

• weight loss,

• removing toxins from the body,

• improving health [1].

Let's agree that in this article I will first discuss the potential of juice detox in the context of each of the above-mentioned aspects. Then I will discuss its advantages and disadvantages for you, and at the end smoothly move on to the summary and answer the question - is it worth it at all?

Juice detoxes for weight loss

Let's start with the aspect that is most associated with food, i.e. weight loss. By definition, juice detox involves eating only fruits and vegetables. It usually does not provide more than 1000-1300 kilocalories per day. As a curiosity, I will tell you that 1000 kilocalories per day is the energy requirement for a 1-3-year-old child... And this means that by using such an extreme caloric deficit, you will most likely lose weight - after all, you will provide your body with much less energy than he expends. There is only one problem, but unfortunately a very big one - the yo-yo effect, i.e. a situation in which after losing unnecessary kilograms, they come back to us after some time, often with a vengeance. Juice detoxes are elimination, restrictive and monotonous diets, and these are most associated with the risk of the yo-yo effect . And in practice, it looks like this: >90% of people who undertake such a diet, after losing weight, very quickly return to their original body weight - only discouragement, irritability and loss of motivation occur...

And of course, you can be that one person in 10 who will lose a few kilograms on a juice diet and not experience the yo-yo effect, but the chance for this is very small, and there are many other (and better) ways to effectively and permanently reduce body weight. What does science say about this? According to a publication from 2015, no experimental study has been conducted that assessed the effectiveness of commercial detoxification diets in humans (in short, we know nothing about it) [2]. However , several poor-quality studies have reported a beneficial effect of detoxes on weight loss, but as scientists point out - after returning to a normal diet, body weight returns to the initial state (yo-yo effect) [3].

To sum up: on a fruit and vegetable diet you can quickly lose a few kilograms, but they will most likely come back, sometimes with a vengeance. There are much more effective ways to permanently reduce body weight and we should stick to them. No scientific research supports the use of juice detoxes in the context of weight loss!

Juice diets and body detoxification

Sellers of juice detoxes often advertise them as not only beneficial in losing weight, but also removing toxins from the body . What toxins? None of them defines this further... Toxins, by definition, are non-replicating factors of biological origin [4] and this definition covers so many compounds that it is really difficult to determine which specific toxins the juice diet would free us from... Several studies have been conducted in this matter research, but they have a lot of methodological limitations that make conclusions impossible.

Remember that the kidneys, lungs and liver are responsible for the detoxification of a healthy body - they can handle it without any problems and do not need any help. However, if there is a problem and you think that your body has been exposed to some toxins, go to a doctor who will deepen the diagnosis and, if necessary, introduce targeted treatment. For example: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends chelation therapy, which is a type of chemical detoxification aimed at removing toxic metals from the body in SPECIFIC AND SERIOUS CASES - and it makes sense and supports health [1 ] Remember that if there is a real need to detoxify the body, specific compounds, for specific reasons and using specific procedures - juices will not do anything here.

To sum up: juice diets do not detoxify the body, but they can effectively remove (completely unnecessary) a lot of money from your wallet.

Juice diets and improving health

Assuming that you are in the small percentage of people who will lose weight after implementing a juice diet and will not experience the yo-yo effect, you will potentially improve your health - you will finally lose unnecessary kilograms. However, looking at it realistically, it is because of:

• unbalanced meals (total lack of fat and protein),

• eating only carbohydrates,

• insufficient supply of many vitamins and minerals (e.g. vitamin B12, iron, iodine),

we could expect at most negative health effects. However, such detoxes are usually carried out on a short-term basis, so the above disadvantages might not translate into long-term health deterioration. This does not change the fact that, in the end, juice detoxes will not improve your health !

To sum up: I have already discussed for you the third aspect that detoxes supposedly help. In each of them, this statement is very far from the truth and is not supported by scientific data. In most cases, sellers of this type of diets simply scam unaware people out of money. Unfortunately, the "victims" are often people who, after many unsuccessful attempts (e.g. weight loss), try every available method out of desperation.

Juice diet - advantages and disadvantages

I will now present you, completely objectively, the advantages and disadvantages of using juice detoxes. I hope this will help you make your final decision.

To sum up the entire article: the greatest effectiveness of juice diets is observed in slimming the wallet. You can take this shortcut, but know that it is not an effective solution in the long term. It's better to follow the guidelines and introduce the principles of a healthy diet that does not include any unnecessary eliminations and whose effectiveness is confirmed by scientific data. The final choice is yours, in the article I approached the topic objectively, based on scientific data.

Literature

1. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/detoxes-and-cleanses-what-you-need-to-know

2. Klein AV, Kiat H. Detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management: a critical review of the evidence. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2015 Dec;28(6):675-86. doi: 10.1111/jhn.12286. Epub 2014 Dec 18. PMID: 25522674.

3. Obert J, Pearlman M, Obert L, Chapin S. Popular Weight Loss Strategies: a Review of Four Weight Loss Techniques. Curr Gastroenterol Rep. 2017 Nov 9;19(12):61. doi: 10.1007/s11894-017-0603-8. PMID: 29124370.

4. Lahiri SS. Bacterial toxins--an overview. J Nat Toxins. 2000 Nov;9(4):381-408. PMID: 11126516.